Despite trying to thin the herd a bit I have been looking for a motorcycle for longer distance riding. I was browsing craigslist at work and saw a 97 BMW R1100RT for $500. The ad just said it had a bad timing tensioner.
I drove down to Dayton after work to check it out. The seller said it was diagnosed by a dealer in Cincinnati with a bad timing chain tensioner and he hadn't heard it run. He decided he didn't have time for it and was selling it for the $500 he paid. I figured it was worth the gamble and got a uhaul trailer.
And it's got a cop motor, cop tires and cop suspension so that's cool.
More updates when I get a closer look at it.
First impression: It's HUGE!
You can't go wrong for $500.
$500!!!? Thats awesome! Is that what cops ride in Oh?
In reply to Slippery:
I don't think I've ever seen one in Columbus, most are Harleys.
Much better ride than a Harley. Most cops I've spoke with prefer them. More reliable too. That's an insane deal! Once fixed that's a 3-4k bike all day.
Great deal! I rode one once to eval as a trade for my klr. It was like riding a horse the saddle was so wide. Is that one really wide too?
In reply to dculberson:
Yea, it is very wide. Much different than my Grom.
SWEET. You really can't go wrong at $500 for that bike.
132,000 miles. It's ratty for sure but I kinda like that. Like an upscale version of Cack.
If I'm not mistaken the regular RT covers can swap over for the ones on there which would give me space for cargo. There is also a lot of you want to convert it to 2up bike, but it costs more than what you paint the bike.
I hope it's a cheap fix but if not it could parted easily.
Very cool.
I put in a tensioner today. It turns over but won't fire. A few pops at first but then nothing. Timing marks are aligned correctly. More fiddling necessary.
It's alive! New plugs and a fair amount of cranking and it stumbled to life. After it warmed up it smoothed out and starts easily now.
I took it on a short ride, didn't go too far since it isn't registered yet. It does have a significant ticking at idle. The timing chain tensioner I put in was the old design and used, there is an updated part that is better so I may replace it now I know that it runs. I will adjust the valves at some point.
It is also deceptively fast but maybe that is because I have been riding a Grom for the past year.
44Dwarf
UltraDork
10/9/16 6:26 p.m.
Nice buy, nice work congrats.
So, now, you bought a running boxer fully kitted with luggage for five bills and a little elbow grease. That's fantastic.
In reply to EvanB:
Nah. I've had that gen bike up to 125 at Summit. They are fast.
Go scare the crap out of the people on the freeway.
No, they are deceptively fast !! Why else would cops pick them.
I had one for years and sold it only when an LT came up, good bikes. They like to use electrons though. Since it's apart, put a pig tail from the battery to somewhere you can get to with a battery charger, trust me.
914Driver wrote:
Since it's apart, put a pig tail from the battery to somewhere you can get to with a battery charger, trust me.
Thankfully it already has that, I used my charger on it after I got home to make sure the battery was good.
Also the police model came with dual batteries.
Jealous. BMW. Boxer. Cheap. Yup, definitely jealous.
